"If unanimous support is not reached, then Whiting has made it clear that from the next race in Germany, any team running FRIC risks being reported to the stewards by the FIA for non-compliance with the regulations."

Wow haha was not expecting this. Even if i have moaned quite a bit about teams being too dominant and differences too big->this is still ridiculous. Why always just restrict, open up stuff more to allow people to develop different stuff and not just cut back on people who got it right.

"If unanimous support is not reached, then Whiting has made it clear that from the next race in Germany, any team running FRIC risks being reported to the stewards by the FIA for non-compliance with the regulations."

so its pretty much gone, at least half the teams will want it gone as they don't have it

NO CHANCE getting in banned before Germany or even Hungary, the FIA may give teams until after the break to stop using FRIC - to be honest, Mercedes advantage is more about their suspension, its aero, engine, engine layout/weight distribution for balance, traction but it will hurt them alot because they are meant to be running the best system on the grid

Who cares about who it hurts or helps? Making a mid-season change to an interpretation of the rules that has been established and accepted for at least a couple of years is a disgrace for *any* sporting series - let alone one that bills itself as top-level and technology-based.

It's actually even worse than the mass-damper. While still wrong, IMO, at least in that case it concerned a device that was new that year. The FRIC arrangement is old-hat in F1 terms.

The only surprise here for me is that it's taken so long for the FIA to act. I believed the system to be against the rules as soon as it was announced, but it appears only when a team gets a competitive advantage that the FIA does anything.

Team must have seen this coming. The letter is just the formal notice. Otherwise it's very very short notice as it's not something you can just remove from the car I reckon.

Dumbing down the sport again.

It will obviously make the cars even slower than they already are.

And for those who are cheering, it's not just Mercedes...

"Having now seen and studied nearly every current design of front to rear linked suspension system we, the FIA, are formally of the view that the legality of all such systems could be called into question."

Early season changes in engine management and sensoring. The move actually ended up hurting both Ferrari and McLaren but it did seem like aimed at slowing down Häkkinen who grabbed three poles in the first three races.

Is this a joke? It may, or may not balance the field a little but who cares, its contrived bullsh*t.

Yes, lets remove an integral part of many cars design, mid-season, with no sufficient testing available. Why not go all out and simply hold a lottery to decide who wins races, that will add some uncertainty and 'spice' to the championship. I've been watching for 30 years and have seen some monumentally bad decisions and lacklustre leadership but I cannot remember, at any point, feeling quite so irritated at how the sport I follow is being run.